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Wisconsin 49, Austin Peay 3 — at the half!

Just watched a bit of this with CJ and AB. A question for people with a more in-depth knowledge of college football than I have. How does this help the Badgers? Are they really in any sense “tuning up” for Michigan State or OSU by playing a team who were unable to record a first down in the 11 minutes we watched, and against whom Wisconsin can score at will?

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3 thoughts on “Wisconsin 49, Austin Peay 3 — at the half!”

It helps the Badgers by adding one to their win total. Non-conference wins like this help the Big “Ten” by letting teams which go 4-4 or 3-5 in conference play have a winning record overall and qualify for bowl appearances.

It also helps the Wisconsin athletic department, because Austin Peay is willing to take some money to play at Wisconsin without insisting on Wisconsin going down to Clarksville TN for a return match.

Paying small schools for home games allows most big football schools to have at least seven home games in a twelve-game season–the gate receipts from the extra game more than offset the cash paid to the small school to come and play the game. Some schools even play eight of twelve at home. This wouldn’t be possible if they played top-level opponents, who would insist on a home-and-home arrangement.

I think the University of Hawaii plays eight or nine of twelve at home every year. For different reasons though….

Another benefit of scheduling a blowout is the opportunity for your non-starters to see significant playing time. This may or may not benefit this season (depending on injuries), but it definitely benefits next season. This probably wouldn’t be enough of a consideration by itself, but it reinforces the factors Davey mentioned.